Blessed by the willow
by kdlovehg
Summary: As Katniss goes into labor of her first pregnancy she reminisces of the pain and hope that a came from a recent event that changed their lives. Going through a pregnancy is tough, it's even harder when your husband gets cancer.


Katniss pov (present)

"Nervous buttercup?" Peeta asks as he looks in the rear-view mirror at my sister's ginger cat.

"A little" I respond giggling with nerves about what awaits me on my arrival to the hospital. "Meow" I say pretending to be a cat as I bounce my leg up and down. I watch as Peeta smiles out of the corner of my eye, "What?" I ask confused.

"Nothing, i'm just looking forward to you bouncing our baby on your knee as she giggles" he states.

"Or he" I offer despite knowing he's set on us having a girl and I have a feeling that even if we have a boy Peeta will love him regardless of his gender. Peeta gently places his hand over my right leg to stop it moving before speaking slowly "calm down, everything's going to be fine and we're going to go in and have a beautiful baby".

"Really?" I say as tears fill my eyes. Damn I hate being emotional.

"Really" he says leaning over and giving me a peck on the lips before readjusting his grip on the steering wheel.

I sniff and offer him a timid smile before saying "Peeta?".

"Yeah" he says he's eyes flickering between me and the road.

"Don't crash". He chuckles in response.

"I don't think I've ever seen Seam streets so empty, it is dead out here" he says as the car slows to stop at a red light despite the road's being clear of people and vehicle's. I nod in agreement as I look around the darkened area; its still early morning and the only form of lightening is the traffic and street lights, but this baby is relentless and wouldn't let me get any sleep so I had to wake Peeta as much as I wanted to ignore the pain.

Pushing the accelerator the car moves as the light turns green and we quickly drive past the Merchant area of District 12 along with the lake before eventually pulling into the hospital parking lot; the same one we have visited for the past few weeks. As Peeta turns off the ignition and gets out of the car before rounding the vehicle to assist me, I feel a strange sense of déjà vu. Gasping I clutch his arm to stabilise myself as he helps me out of the car.

"You okay?" he asks worry evident in his blue eyes. Wordlessly I nod as he takes my hand in his and shuts my door before checking to make sure we have everything; the baby diaper bag with its accessories like new-born clothes and bibs as well as a few personal items for me and him. Locking the door he puts the key in his pocket before we stroll to the entry of Willow hospital; the foundation to which a so called miracle willow tree once stood.

"What about the cat- oh" I exclaim as Peeta tightens his grip to prevent me falling. I'm not hurt but nevertheless my heart rate speed up as I think about what could have happened.

"Watch the bump" he says joking at my expense and as I look over my shoulder I indeed see a bump on the floor which is supposed to stop cars from speeding. Stupid thing. "Buttercup will be fine, I left the back windows open and she has some food, besides, Prim coming soon and she has a spare set of keys so the cat will be fine. Stop worrying, I don't want you to get stressed out" he explains as his eyes roam up and down my body to make sure i'm not injured. I watch as his lips curl into a smirk when he looks at my baby bump; the prime reason for his excitement. I never really understood why anyone would care for them but Peeta wanted one so badly, who was I to reject him the one thing he wanted - well apart from me.

Smiling I take a few reassuring breaths as we enter the building and walk to the elevator. The building is painted completely white and athough unnerving I feel a strange sense of comfort most likely from how they helped us. "Here we go" Peeta mummers as we go inside and the doors close behind us. The elevator shakes as it begins to move upwards to level 12; the penthouse suite "any last words... of wisdom" he says correcting himself at the last moment as my eyes round in panic.

"Nope, I'm scared" I say before giggling nervously as the doors slide open. Turning away I exit into a long dull hallway whilst dragging Peeta behind me.

"Now who's excited?" he questions mockingly as he moves in front of me and raises an eyebrow. Rolling my eyes I follow him until we stop outside of two large doors. Rolling up the sleeves to his grey hoodie - which he apparently wore because it matched the colour of my eyes - he holds his arm out in front of a wand fixed into the wall which scans the device in his arm before lightening up signalling that it has confirmed his identity as the doors slide open. Dragging me with him we walk inside the lavish hospital room complete with a bed, a huge window on the right of the room, a black couch and numerous electronic machines that look as if they do everything from measuring my blood pressure to counting my contractions. The doors slide closed behind us and I stand gaping in the middle of the room as I look around at the extravagant paintings on the walls of new-borns with their mothers as well as the white, silver and black hexagonal tables attached to one another and a small incubator. An involuntary shiver runs through me the longer I think about what will be happening in a few hours.

"This is cool isn't it babe?" Peeta asks dropping the bags on the couch as I nervously tug on the hem of my shirt whishing it was longer despite knowing how obvious it is that I'm heavily pregnant. I mummer in agreement before walking over to the bathroom beside the window, and retrieving a long piece of blue fabric which seems as though it is meant to cover me up for the birth but hardly stretches around the front of my body. Why didn't they make a back? Shaking my head I reach out and grab the door handle when my husband's voice interrupts me "What let me see, I don't want to miss anything".

"I.. okay whatever" I reply walking inside with him trailing behind me. Holding my arms out I gesture to the bath, the sink, everything "well this is it and- Peeta did you leave the toilet seat up?" I say in accusation as he quickly shakes his head and holds his hands up in surrender.

"No I swear" he says laughing "it wasn't me I promise". Smiling I lower the toilet seat and watch as Peeta curiously looks around as if trying to remember every little detail yet for me I want this to be over as soon as possible. I just want my baby and I know that this will be one of the rooms which I hate the most, bittersweet I guess; I'll get something I'll supposedly love but I'll have to remember the pain every time I think of this place. Apologising Peeta exits and shuts the door behind me. Once i'm finished going to the bathroom I knock lightly on the door and he enters again to assist me in the removal of my clothes knowing full well that I can't do it without him.

* * *

"Missing anything else, Kat?" Peeta asks as he interlaces our fingers before resting our hands on the hospital bed.

"No you have everything, I got my blankly" I mummer dreamily as I rub the soft fabric against my cheek. Usually I'm not one to care about personal possessions but this is one of the few that I'll always need, it's my blanket that I had wrapped around me when I was first born, first held by my father and now I want to use it for our child.

I wince as a sharp pain shoots through me and Peeta rubs the back of my hand until it passes, in a weak attempt to comfort me but honestly it's enough. As long as he's here, that's all I want but if these stopped, you know I guess it would be helpful. Damn, contractions what their point anyway? "Still getting used to it?" he says trying to make joke.

"Yeah" I reply inhaling deeply as I breathe to get through the pain.

The door creaks as it opens and Prim comes in the room followed by Dr Aurelius. She smiles and walks over to my right and sits in the chair before taking my hand in one of hers whilst using the other to move a stray piece of hair away from my face. Dr Aurelius - our only doctor that we trust - clears his throat before explaining to my husband the experience and details of what I'm going to have to do and how he can help, which Peeta readily agrees to. To me though his words are both nonsense and disturbing.

Turning to me he smiles "Hello Mrs Mellark, welcome back, I hope your comfortable, this is going to be a long labour" he says as if it were a good thing and suddenly I'm reminded of everything that got me here, it all piles up, flashes of images forever planted in my mind, weeks spent crying over what if? I know instantly and with a strong, steady voice I say "yes thank you, I'm very comfortable here".

But then the gunshots rang out...

* * *

 **Hi! So this is my story so far; would you prefer it to be edited to a one-shot or short story? What do you think? Hope you enjoyed! I've already started the next few chapters so in chapter 2 Katniss will be talking about her past and willow hospital. Please write a review, I love to hear your feedback! :)**

 **I'm on tumblr, come say hi, kdlovehg. :)**


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